Page 43 - Bloomberg Businessweek July 2018

◼ POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek July 2, 2018

have to sway in a direction you don’t want to what Hernandez means. The marquee at the local
sway in if the sacrifice benefits the economy. It’s theater has been smashed. Its doors are locked, as
tough to turn away opportunities that can help are those of most of the storefronts downtown. The
build this community.” rusted silos are infested with mosquitoes; there’s
Joel Hernandez, the former guard, fled for oil no grain inside or livestock nearby. The farms that
country after the Willacy facility was shuttered and do exist are profitable, but only because they’ve
now works for refiners across the state. He’d rather leased their land to wind farms. “One more prison
not see his hometown continuing to live up to the won’t change any of this,” says Ernesto “Lefty”
Prisonville nickname, especially in the service of Cavazos, chair of the Willacy County Democratic
Trump’s policies. “When I come back to town, peo- Party. “But if they’re going to do it somewhere,
ple here don’t know any better,” he says. “They they might as well do it here.” �Kartikay Mehrotra
don’t know there’s a big world out there. It’s like
they’re all locked up in there with the prisoners.” THE BOTTOM LINE A town of mostly Hispanic Democrats on the
Texas border is supporting Trump’s immigration crackdown to boost
Drive through Raymondville, and you see the local economy by reopening a detention center for immigrants.

The Conspiracy

To Snatch Maduro ● Details surface of a
failed attempt to oust
Venezuela’s president

34 and put him on trial
The plot, code-named Operation Constitution, been reported before, though a military blogger in
involved scores of captains, colonels, and generals the country has alluded to it. Once rich and relatively
from all four branches of Venezuela’s armed forces. democratic, socialist Venezuela has devolved into a
The goal was straightforward and seismic—to cap- dysfunctional, authoritarian petrostate. The country
ture President Nicolás Maduro and put him on trial. is beset by hyperinflation and severe food and med-
The plotters, wearing blue armbands marked OC, icine shortages. Hundreds of thousands have fled
were supposed to storm the presidential palace and to neighboring Colombia, which for decades bat-
main military base and stop the May 20 presidential tled Marxist guerrillas backed by Maduro and his
election. Some of the planning took place in Bogotá, predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who himself led a failed
but Colombian and U.S. officials, who allegedly coup against the Venezuelan government in 1992.
knew about the plot and winked from the sidelines, A decade later, as president, he beat back a coup.
declined to provide active support. Some members of the Venezuelan military say
Then something went wrong. In mid-May, several the only hope for a return to stability is to replace
dozen servicemen, including one woman, as well as Maduro by force. That remains unlikely after the
a couple of civilians, were secretly arrested—some coup’s failure. The president holds sway over all
have been accused of treason—and imprisoned by major institutions; he’s never been a military man
a military court. Many say they’ve been tortured. but has worked hard to win the loyalty of top brass.
The plotters believe they were betrayed, possibly by And while his reelection in May was widely con-
a double agent. This reconstruction of the conspir- demned as fraudulent, it reaffirmed the sense that
acy is based on interviews with one plot coordina- he’s firmly in power. The coup attempt, however,
tor who escaped arrest, two who attended planning indicates that parts of the security services are roil-
sessions, and lawyers and relatives of the accused. ing with discontent—and Maduro has taken note. At
All spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for a military parade on June 23 he declared, “It’s time
their safety. Bloomberg also viewed a military court to close ranks and dig in against treason! We need
report laying out the government’s version of events; a united military loyal to the glorious country of
it corroborated many of the plotters’ accounts. Venezuela and its legitimate commander-in-chief!”
Details of the failed coup, probably the biggest The military tribunal report on the plot, par-
threat to Maduro in his five years in office, haven’t ticipants say, contains both fact and fiction. Its